It’s always necessary to establish some ground rules and points of etiquette so that we avoid problems before they happen. Please read these rules and keep them in mind when posting. The LSP Staff are committed to establishing a modeling community where manufacturers, distributors, modelers and enthusiasts are all welcome and feel comfortable contributing. As such, the LSP staff reserve the right to delete or edit offensive posts without time consuming explanations and notification. We expect polite and civil discourse even if you disagree with someone.

PROMOTION OF OTHER SITES OR ACTIVITIES

LSP does not exist as an avenue for promoting other websites, or activities occurring exclusively on sites not specifically affiliated with LSP. The occasional link to activities elsewhere is certainly not discouraged, but inserting those links as a means of self promotion or advertising, are to be removed at staff discretion, where the violation of this rule is deemed to be intentional and egregious.

PHOTOS

While LSP actively encourages and supports individuals adding photos to various subjects for illustrative purposes, the unwarranted and completely unnecessary subsequent copying of those images while quoting posts, when the images themselves add no additional content value, is highly discouraged. We ask that you self-edit that type of redundant photo duplication when replying via the quote function. Staff reserves the right to edit these image duplications when and as necessary.

OFFENSIVE POSTS/THREADS

Posts or threads that are offensive include those that are meant to be insulting, threatening, or those which are obviously 'trolls'. These will be deleted by the LSP Staff at our discretion. Examples are: outright personal attacks, flame wars, posts that are 'intended' to incite or upset others, politics, religion and other topics considered not in the interests of our membership by the staff.

Whilst we all enjoy the LSP forums being polite and peaceful we do relish debates on a range of hot topics. We are committed to ensuring all members that are behaving reasonably and politely are able to offer their opinion. We are only ever likely to intervene when replies in those hot debates are no longer intelligent or well thought out and begin to attack an individual or company.

LSP is not the place for the denigration of model kits or the people/companies who made them. We have no issues with members offering a critique of any model kit or product. If members make the effort to ensure their criticism is dispassionate and factual it is far less likely to create complaints. Criticism is a good thing but works best on LSP when it is intended to be constructive and helpful. We are committed to growing a modeling community enthused and inspired by creative solutions.

If you simply want to complain or you feel you have a duty to warn others then LSP isn't the place. There are lots of websites where you can post whatever or however you like. Please be our guest and do it on those sites but not on LSP.

POLITICAL POSTS AND STATEMENTS

LSP is about modeling, therefore political posts or statements are not welcome here. Posts/Threads of a political nature are subject to deletion at the discretion of the moderating team.

LSP AND WORLD EVENTS

Lately the news we see each day has not been very nice to watch.

LSP is a community of modelers with similar interests and many of us have made friends here. Discussions about our personal adventures and experiences are welcome and encouraged but the majority of us come here to escape the bad news we see. LSP staff strongly discourages the posting of negative world news events, particularly those involving violence and terrorism, within the forums and reserves the right to delete or edit such posts"

DUPLICATE POSTS

Please note that LSP doesn't allow posting the same thread in multiple places on the forum. If this happens, the moderating team will delete all but the thread that has been posted in the most appropriate place.

REPORTING A POST

To report an offensive post to the LSP Staff, please use the 'Report This Post' link to advise the staff and outline to us why you found the post offensive. We ask that you be mature and resist the temptation to reply to posts that irritate you. If you do, it almost always makes things worse and gives the original poster the satisfaction of the reaction wanted in the first place. You can be reassured that your complaint will be considered with both an open mind and in the context of the entire LSP community. It also helps if you're not 'too' precious or quick to assume a malicious intent from another member. Even though this is the 'rules of the road thread' we're not the smile police and will not intervene if we consider members are being overly sensitive.

BANNING MEMBERS

We detest to ever having to ban members and we only do it when we consider it is in the best interests of the LSP membership. We will ban if members ignore the directions of the LSP staff, threaten or harass other members either in posts or via Email and PM or in other serious cases which the staff consider are appropriate. We have the ability to ban members, both by username, IP address, or domain wildcards. Again, we hope to avoid using this feature, but in the best interests of the entire LSP community we will if we have to.

NEW MEMBERS

As a spam-prevention measure, all new members are subject to a short moderation period, during which their posts will need to be approved by a moderator. The moderation period is based on approved post count, and allows us to weed out the spammers before their posts even become public. You will know when you have served out your moderation period by looking at the member group in your profile (or under your avatar in any of your posts), which will have changed from Members to LSP_Members.

Please note that the Traders Board will not be visible to new members until the moderation period has been served. Posting sale ads or parts requests in other areas of the forums as a substitute is not acceptable, and these posts will NOT be approved.

THE MODERATING TEAM

If you have any questions regarding the forums, moderation, administration please contact any of the staff. If you have specific technical questions or problems, please contact either Matt or Kev, and we'll do whatever we can to help you out.

We hope that everyone will enjoy the forums, and we remind you that continued participation in the forums is assured if you adhere to the basic rules of etiquette when posting a message, or replying to a post.

In the process of dealing with material or posts which are regarded as offensive, members are obliged to follow the directions of the staff. Lack of prompt action by a member will result in further active intervention by the staff and potentially a restriction of member privileges. Members are welcome to discuss the management of their material or posts with staff in a private fashion (i.e. via emails, PM's but not in the public forums) All staff decisions are final.

Again, if you have any questions regarding: the rules, technical questions and or problems please do not hesitate to contact any member of the moderating team for help or guidance. We'll point your question in the right direction to the appropriate member of the LSP Staff.

Note:These rules are subject to change as individual situations require, and of course, we'll notify you of any changes via this forum.